Stories, Tales, Fables & Floklore

The greedy farmer and the king cobra

One upon a time there lived a poor farmer in a village. He worked hard but did not get good crop. One day in the afternoon the farmer was much tiered. He then went under the shade of a big tree on this farm. While we lay on the ground he saw a king cobra in the hood of the anthill near tree.

He thought to himself, “The cobra is the lord of this land. I have never worshiped him that is why my efforts do not reap results. I must make some offering to the cobra and get his blessings.”

With this the farmer rushed to his house and brought a bowl full of milk for the cobra. Farmer went up to the anthill and said, “My lord, I was ignorant of your blissful presence on this land and so didn’t worship you. I am sorry, forgive me. Please accept my offering and bless me.” With this the farmer left the bowl there and left for his home.

Next day, the farmer came back on this farm for work. Thinking of the king cobra, he went to the anthill and he found a gold coin inside the bowl in which he offered milk to the cobra. From then he used to offer a bowl full of milk to the cobra daily and would get one gold coin in return.

His greed grew and he thought “There must be lot of gold coins inside the cobra’s anthill. If I kill the cobra and dig inside the anthill, I will get all gold in one shot”.

The farmer filled with greed went to the anthill with a stick and as he saw the cobra he attacked him. The cobra escaped and on digging the anthill the farmer found no gold.

When the farmer when back home, he found his son was dead. He realized that his son has died as consequence of his attempt to kill the cobra out of greed.

After the cremation of his son, the farmer returned to the king cobra’s anthill. He called upon the king cobra and begged for his pardon. He offered him a blow of milk. On his cobra told him, “You have lost your son as a consequence of your going greed and my curse. You’re a fool and I shall not shower my blessing on to you again. Go away and never return back here again”.